A bit of positive spin

A trio of gundog breeds from Italy have found a place in the hearts of UK owners. David Tomlinson assesses their strengths in the field

ANY ONE WHO READS this column regularly will know that I’ve written recently about both French and German gundogs.

On the same theme, this is a piece about Italian gundogs, but it wasn’t one I was planning to write. However, a friend with a passion for all things Italian — from formaggi to Ferrari and ciabatta to chianti — challenged me to write it. Intriguingly, though he shoots with a Beretta and drives an Alfa Romeo, he works a pair of black labradors, having never quite taken the plunge to get an Italian gundog.

My hesitancy in writing this piece is because, unlike France and Germany, I’ve never been shooting in Italy, though I have been lucky enough to have travelled widely in the country from top — Gran Paradiso in the Italian Alps — to toe (Sicily). I have a good idea of the terrain that the native Italian gundogs have to work in, while I’m also well aware that game is generally scarce, the two main factors that have shaped and moulded Italy’s shooting dogs.

Hound-like

During my last Italian trip, to Sicily, I tried to see rock partridges, a cousin of our familiar redlegs. I failed, but perhaps I might have succeeded if

I’d had a spinone or bracco working for me. Of all the gundogs, none

“If I wanted a gundog with a difference, the lagotto would be high on my list”

is more hound-like in appearance than the bracco Italiano. While the historians may differ on the breed’s ancestry, most agree that the bracco is one of the oldest breeds in Europe, with bloodlines that go back to the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries).

There is little doubt that there is hound blood coursing through the bracco’s veins, while the short coat and colours of orange and white, orange roan, chestnut and white, and chestnut roan are quite unlike any other gundog breed.

Breed historians believe that the bracco has its origins in the Egyptian hound and the Persian mastiff, while the white and orange is thought to come from the Piedmont pointer, and the white and chestnut from the Lombardy pointer. The breed’s doleful expression suggests a touch of St Hubert hound, the ancestor of the modern bloodhound.

Hound blood was generally introduced to add stamina to a breed and to improve scenting powers. It certainly worked with the bracco, for it has a fine reputation for its ability to track and find game. A muscular, powerful dog, measuring up to 67cm at the withers, the bracco Italiano is one of the biggest of all the gundogs. Despite their size, the dogs I have

The Italian spinone is not a fast or flashy dog